It has been conventional practice in small boats to connect the toilet or "head" first to a through-hull fitting for drawing in sea water and secondly to a through-hull fitting for discharging the waste from the toilet to the sea, the operation taking place by the manual or electrical operation of a combination pump and valve assembly. This assembly draws in fresh sea water, flushes it through the head, and forces it out into the sea again. In recent years, environmentally-concerned persons have importuned the Coast Guard and other government regulatory agencies to put a stop to the discharge of head waste into the sea, particularly in parts of the sea closely adjacent to land, most particularly in rivers and harbors. As a result of this pressure, laws have been passed by Congress with a definite date set up at which time such discharge will no longer be allowed. The only alternatives available will then be storage of the waste or a chemical treatment such that discharge into the ocean consists only of wastes in which all bacteria have been killed. The chemical treatment heads are quite expensive and, for the matter, so are storage facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency has specified that the only allowable waste disposable systems are Type II or Type III, the latter being the holding tank type. Some municipalities may insist that only the Type III will be allowed. Several problems arise with the holding tank system, whether the apparatus is provided during the construction of a new boat or is retro-fitted to older boats. Most boats under 35 feet long simply do not have room for a holding tank and what space is available is not rectilinear in shape, thus introducing problems in constructing an inexpensive holding tank. Another problem with a permanent holding tank is that pump-out stations are practically nonexistent and, when they are available, are quite expensive. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a waste storage apparatus particularly adapted to use with the head of small boats.
Another object of this invention is the provision of an apparatus for storing waste from a boat head, which apparatus will be acceptable to governmental and municipal agencies.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of an apparatus for converting a sea-discharge type boat head into a holding tank type.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a waste storage apparatus which can make use of irregular spaces in small boats.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a waste storage apparatus of such a nature that waste can be carried to conventional domestic toilets and there is no need for large pumping stations.
it is a further object of the invention to provide waste storage apparatus which allows an alternative selection from holding tank operation to direct discharge to the sea, where the latter is legally permissable.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for storage of waste from a boat head, which apparatus is simple in construction, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus for waste storage which can be easily installed in a small boat by the owner.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.